12 ghost towns worth a visit

After the 1862 gold strike at nearby Grasshopper Creek, Bannack boomed, drawing outlaws such as corrupt sheriff Henry Plummer and his gang of Innocents to this remote outpost in southwestern Montana. Walk the wide, gravel main street, lined by dozens of weathered wooden buildings, including the Hotel Meade, the jail, and the 1874 Masonic Lodge (shown here), which also served as the schoolhouse until 1951, and you can almost imagine the gunfights and robberies that once plagued the town, briefly the capital of Montana Territory. $6/vehicle;